Blanc's Writing Block
by OmegaTexnos
Summary: Blanc had a serious writing slump recently. Since her 'wife' Vert dropped by, they went on about how to solve this issue.
1. Chapter 1

Blanc's Writing Block

Chapter 1

In the CPU Room at Lowee, Blanc could be seen typing seriously on her laptop, lines and lines of paragraphs without any coherence displayed on the screen. The bookworm scratched her head many times already; exhaling the stressful air around, she closed the laptop and laid in her sofa once more.

"I couldn't seem to get any inspiration to write."

She thought about all of the ideas that were quite brilliant in her own standards and that's after comparing to the dozens and dozens of Webnovels she read. Not to mention, she already read a lot of stuff.

"Still, when it came to writing, why must it be so difficult?" the White CPU thought, "Do I really have no talent after all? I mean, I have been posting my works on the internet for so many years and I only had few views—there's hardly any reviews, favs, follows and so far."

Blanc second-guessed herself. What was the point of being an Author anyway? It wasn't like she's trying to make it big, since it's just a hobby and there's a lot of Authors out there who she thought could make stories much better than her own, with more consistency and faster release schedule.

As for herself, it's not as if nowadays, the CPU work were very busy. Especially in this peaceful time, many of the decisions were left to the ministers at the Basilicom anyway. The CPUs became more and more like a figurehead as the time went by. Even so, the work schedule were quite packed from 9 to 5 and there's got to be a lot of formality events she had to attend, which made her quite exhausted by the end of the day.

Add the little time she had left, she also got to play with her twin sisters. What time left she had to write? Plus, It wasn't like she could just do nothing but write for the remainder.

"It's really difficult and at times so boring—why do I have to keep doing this anyway? If I want to get a good story, I could just read it online or buy the book.

There were countless good Authors anyway. Was there any difference if I stopped?"

She thought about the stories she read, the games she played with both her sisters and also her CPU friends and other Candidates; the kind of vacation and fun times they spent together. How the workload had been pretty chill during the peaceful days. On how the villains who kept making her unable to rest easy hadn't appeared for the longest time.

It was all good, but with a trouble gone, another one appear.

"In that case, why don't you think back the reason why you write in the first place?"

Out of blue, without even the single noise from the door, Vert magically strolled in.

Blanc noticed the cold air wafting in the window; she wasn't even on the mood to get angry due to her writing slump.

At least she was considerate enough to close the window right after coming in.

"W-what do you want? I didn't say anything!" Blanc abruptly jerked her head at the direction of a blond young girl with glamorous outfit and big chest.

"Don't worry. I'm not talking to anyone either." the blond girl let out a feminine giggle while playfully approached the bookworm lying down on sofa. She sat there on the fluffy armchairs, staring closely at her petite friend.

"You might be turning insane, Vert." Blanc frowned and quickly turned her head away.

"We might be in the same ward since I heard you talking to yourself just now."

"Seriously? I...really am not talking to myself."

"Alright, I'm also not talking to anyone in the particular. So, Blanny—about that writing slump you have..."

'So she really did heard everything!' Blanc cursed in her heart.

"...you just came here to tease me, aren't you? If you got no specific business, please return."

"Come on, I'm here to help you. At least I can add up to your number of readers."

"Sigh...Vert, you know I didn't write any that guy-on-guy stuff, alright? I'm not going to write anything about it. Plus, don't call me Blanny."

"So, what kind of things you like to write, Blanny?"

As the topic finally got to her writing, Blanc mustered all the motivation to actually sat upright on the sofa, facing Vert, who kept giving her warm glances.

The blond girl seem to be quite intimate with her lately for no good reason.

"Recently I'm trying to write Isekai stories with game elements but I couldn't seem to put my finger on it—and please stop calling me Blanny."

"Hmm...Isekai huh—it's a kind of overused trope, didn't you think? On a particular Light Novel competition, there's even a ban on those genre."

"I think they're completely missing the point. There's good ones and bad ones. I'm thinking of a glass half-full. No matter how many bad ones were there, the ones that were actually decent could always be found."

"Well Blanny, I understand how they feel. I used to be judging one of these events at Leanbox. We're simply tired of reading such things over and over.

Different than actual readers, we were forced to thoroughly read and analyze the content, even if it was truly painful. Speaking of which, you're not the type that actually likes to read and comment on other Authors, right?"

"Nah, I'm just too busy to be involved in a writing community anymore."

'...and didn't I said it twice already—don't call me Blanny?' but she eventually ignored her, hoping that it was just an ill-natured teasing and it'd be over as soon she didn't react at all.

"Are you afraid that your identity as the Lowee CPU would be exposed then? I could understand if that's the case. When people knew of your status, they may not be able to get their honest thoughts."

"They probably wouldn't believe it anyway, Vert. The same with your Four Goddess Online ID. Who in Gamindustri would believe you're the actual 'Green Heart'? At most people would think you're a Leanbox follower. My Author ID actually had nothing to do with Lowee at all, it's WhiteManjuu from Nepfanfics."

Vert made a strange smile as if telling 'it actually had Lowee-related things in it!'

"True, you got a point. Ah, you're at the site too? Please let me add you. My ID is Green+Heart, the same with my gamertag."

Vert took out the phone hidden in her breast cleavage and browsed the net in it, adding Blanc's account with face flushed from excitement.

Looking at those melons jiggling, Blanc couldn't help but flush her face.

'Hey, you're doing such shameful act in front of me. Why must you flaunt those annoying duffel bags everywhere?'

"...er...like I said, I didn't write any guy-on-guy stories, don't get excited—you'd be disappointed."

"Nah, I'm just looking at which stories you wrote...hmm...seriously..you only made like one or two per year—and you'd like joined more than seven years ago!"

"My main interest wasn't fanfiction. I mostly wrote my original stories on the forums and even managed to become the enthusiast for a year or two but I soon got bored of it."

"The forums hype were like one decade ago? Now, it's all around social media and Neppit. I wasn't all up with the times really. So, did every old member in here quit?"

"Yeah, they got to start a family, going to work or something. When I first started here, there's a lot of college students and we're being such good pals. It's a pity I couldn't even attend that offline meeting with them. How about you, Vert? Since you're a big player in your guild, ever have someone wanting an offline meetup? What did you say to them in this case?

As for me, I think I said my home were far away and I had work during the meetup day."

"Well, I jokingly said I'm the actual Green Heart and invited them for a meeting in the Basilicom. They pretend to not hear anything and left me out. My guildmates never invited me again after that, ahaha."

"...really—and I think when they ask for an IRL pic you showed your own photo and they actually had enough of it."

"Ah...yeah, Blanny. You know me so well, my honey."

"...er, Vert? What kind of medicine you forgot to take today? More importantly, what's the reason you come here? You don't stroll around just because you're bored, aren't you?"

"I'm actually bored like you say."

"You're one unhinged fella, I swear. Didn't you have a lot of stuff to play in your Basilicom? Why must go all the way to visit me?"

"Blanny, in our everlasting lives, time would flow really quickly compared to others. Before we know it, our friends would be gone and the relationship between us would lessen. Even if I couldn't play today, I could do it some other time."

"It's not like you have to visit me today right—we would live for a very long time, after all."

"It may not necessarily be true. Even if we're immortals, there's got to be one point our existence were no more. We might have enjoyed the times of peace, but who knows if one day, a crisis would come again and set us apart forever. Not just us but...Noire, Neptune, Nepgear and the others too..."

"I wouldn't say that you're overreacting but. Why the sudden visit? Please tell me everything Vert. Did you have a premonition of stuff that's going to happen?"

Vert simply gave Blanc a smile before embracing her.

"Nah, I just...wanted to see you again. Being able to talk with Blanny made me feel all warm and comfy."

"...don't call me Blanny...you dummy."

Blanc's face were flushed red as her face were buried in Vert's bosom. The blond girl patted her head; gently stroking her hair, in which made the bookworm girl fell into dreamlike state.

"Oh right—let's read your stuff first."

"...you! Why must break this kind of atmosphere?"

Even if she's happy for someone to read her works, it truly felt as if this blond girl were playing pranks on her.

"Oh my, Blanny...do you like it? You just have to ask. The pleasure's on me though, you're so soft and fluffy."

"Telling me to ask it outright...it's not romantic at all..."

'...it's not as if I like you...I just don't dislike you...why are you such a dummy? Teasing me like that even though we're both girls.'

"Eh? Are you saying we're in that kind of relationship?"

"No! No! No! Don't ever think about it..."

"Even though Blanny dumped me, it's alright. Let us read Blanny's work, shall we?"

"Oi..just now you said it two times already."


	2. Chapter 2

Blanc's Writing Block

Chapter 2

On a certain forested area stood a girl with long black hair wearing a sailor uniform. She didn't know how she came here; all of her memories were lost.

Dusting off her uniform, she took a glance of the surrounding forest; it was quiet all around, aside from few strange animals bouncing about.

A voice inside her heart said 'open the menu'.

Muttering the menu, there's a list of drop down widgets concerning her items, skills, equipment etc.

In addition, there's a mini-map of the surroundings in the back of her mind. She was perplexed seeing as the cute animals were marked red and viewing the map's legend, it was labeled 'normal foe'.

The voice told her again 'approach the enemy and hit it before it touches you'.

Out of nowhere, a bamboo sword appeared on the ground. The girl picked it up right away, walked towards the strange animal, who flashed an exclamation mark above its head as she came closer.

...but the girl was faster. As the bamboo sword struck the tip of the strange bouncing animal, there was a message printed in green-border 'Symbol Attack'.

She found herself teleported into a circular grassland bordered by concentric circle of trees, along with two of these strange animals facing her. Both of these animals stood there on the spot unmoving, while the girl saw interfaces similar to a JRPG game in front of her .

The voice told her everything was to know about the battle.

The girl walked towards the enemy and struck a few times; damage numbers began appearing on top of it. She couldn't move from her position after the attack.

As her turn ends, she also couldn't move; only letting the enemy attack her. As damage numbers appear, reducing her overall health pool, she felt a tinge of pain but the amount of damage wasn't life-threatening.

Soon, the enemies were defeated, granting her Credits and EXP points and for some reason this world's system made her force out some embarrassing victory pose and lines.

This one battle also leveled her up, showing the increase in her overall stats.

,,,,

As the girl woke up, it turns out, she was just dreaming from playing games too much.

Fin

...

"Blanny, why is this only one chapter! I find the idea pretty interesting...but really...you...look, even the reviews agreed with me."

While Vert sat on the sofa, reading the story on phone—Blanc moved back to her desk, pretending to double-check the writings on her laptop.

"I really couldn't help it! I didn't even have any idea on how to continue it. I didn't even have any time or energy to make multi-chapter series anymore."

"I'm not an Author myself so..not sure if I understand: I know writing stories aren't easy but, this kind of half-hearted way of posting a chapter and finishing it off right away so abruptly, what would you feel if you read such a story?"

"To be honest, I...hadn't been reading stuff like that so I didn't know what to feel."

"Do you have stories that you especially enjoy?"

"Of course! I'm a big fan of adventure stories made by Falcom, I mean the stories had so much detail and immersion, it feels like I was actually there and going on adventures! Well, Vert—I know what you're thinking but I just couldn't write like her. It's best for me to find the best kind of stories that feel comfortable to do."

"I don't think it works that way, Blanc. You may think that stories and the Authors were linked by fate but aren't the biggest thrill of creating was being able to create whatever you want? If you could only create whichever that you feel is best, wouldn't it become boring?"

"I used to have that mindset. Honestly, I'm kind of afraid of working myself too hard over a story, correcting the plot-holes and stuff. Not finding joy in writing and ended up being stressed, it affect my actual work. That's why I couldn't go all out while writing...eh, it's not like I wish to be a professional or anything—I'm just a hobbyist so isn't it fine just writing however I want?"

"Even if you say 'write however you want', aren't you complaining about your slump right now, Blanc? Do you really wish to get out of your slump or do you just wish for someone to console you?"

"I...sigh...I truly don't know what I wish for, Vert. I originally just need a stress relief from work when I started picking up this hobby many years ago. When I tried again, it made me sleepy and bored. It's probably because my writings are so boring."

"Blanc, if you don't like it anymore, why don't you stop?"

"Vert. I...LIKE writing but...no matter how much effort I put, I couldn't manage to finish a single story."

"As much as I want to read your next work—does it matter whether you could finish it or not? Isn't it more important to enjoy what you're doing?"

"You really don't understand anything. I truly want to finish what I wrote and share it to the world...but there's something that made me unable to finish no matter what."

"Why don't you just force your way through and finish it anyway? You're not waging a war when pros and cons should be weighed. You're not writing for a big-time project with lots of money involved. Looking at your profile, it's not as if you're trying to satisfy the expectations of many others, right?"

"Ugh...when you say it outright, it stings."

"What I wish to say is, you have nothing to lose even if you came up with something bad. Actually, you don't even have to care about anything else and just finish it because you want to, right?"

"To be honest, I'm kinda afraid of writing bad things. I don't know if I could withstand when those critics tried to roast my writings outright."

"I don't think it would change, no matter how good and bad your story is. If people didn't like it, they could pull over everything to prove their point true. You can't please everyone, but if you don't put yourself first, I don't think it's ever worth going so far.

If you don't do it for your own satisfaction, I think it's stupid to keep going, with the meager amount of appreciation that you get. Plus, it's not like you had all day to write, right? You had to spend quite a portion of the time people could use to do something else.

Alas, it's a given that you'd be better at it the more you write, but if you didn't enjoy it nonetheless—what's the point?"

"In short, only do something if the reward is worth the effort?"

Blanc rested her head on her palm, pondering about all the things the blond girl told her.

"You could say it that way...sigh, I think I had enough of this serious talk. I much prefer nonchalant topics."

"Let me pour you some tea."

...

It was a chilly afternoon at Lowee. The girls were drinking tea: one seated at the sofa, wholly enjoying the taste. The other was drinking as she typed the words on her laptop.

"How's it going, Blanny?"

Vert put down her tea as she already finished sipping it.

"It's coming out pretty well, but I'm not sure whether to make it into a multi-chapter series."

"I don't expect such a change of heart so soon."

"I was just thinking, Vert. Maybe the main cause why I couldn't come up with anything was due to those misleading ideas. On how artists should not rush their work and wait for the right struck of inspiration before proceeding. On how they should wait and take their time while working on something. It may not necessarily be true."

"Go on, I'm interested."

"The truth is, they could just create anything they want, regardless of the mood, inspiration and everything like that. None of it truly matters in the end. All you got to do was create the stuff you have in mind and work on it until you've finished for the time being.

If you want to do it, you just got to do it right away. That's all there's to it. I never knew it was actually so simple."

"Well, that does not mean you always have to rush it straight away though. I believe taking your time and not overworking yourself is also important. Since it's a hobby, why don't you think of it the same as playing games?"

"Yeah, I know. By the way, Vert...I just thought about something."

"Hmmm?"

"Maybe I didn't even amount to anything much these days because I had the loser mindset. That I got to wait for the right opportunity and finding what kind of person I was; the things that were meant for me.

..and then I thought: what if you actually could become anything you want? That there's no such limitations as talent, age, or anything. You just have to do your best and eventually, you'd become the person you aspire to be? It'd be great if I could be someone like that.

I think I won't be afraid anymore of failing. Even if it turn out bad, it's something I created for my own satisfaction."

"...even if you say that, don't forget that you're the leader of a nation. You may not think of it as much, given how long you've been doing it already. This time, you have to do your best, not only to become the person you aspire to be, but for the citizens of the nation who looked up to you."

"That goes without saying."

"Well then, I shall do my best for my own nation. Until next time, Blanny...let's see if Lowee could keep up the majority of the Shares again."

"Hmph."

"Heh."

Vert transformed to her HDD form and flew outside the Basilicom. Blanc closed the window, letting in the radiator work to its efficiency, warming the room up.

Finally posting the first fanfiction she ever done in this year, Blanc looked up at the past reviews on her previous stories. She remember a certain user that's always there from the very beginning.

"Thank you...Belle."

Not long after, Rom and Ram came back from the Amusement Park with Mina. Since she already finished her stuff, she thought: guess it wasn't so bad to spend some time with her sisters.

"Welcome back Rom, Ram."

After all, even if they lived forever, those kind of relationships shouldn't be taken for granted.

Even if she think of writing as an important thing in life, spending time with her sisters were the same.

"I hope this peaceful days will continue on forever..." thought Blanc as she merrily played the party games with Rom and Ram.

Fin.

Author's Note :

I made Lowee having the most shares due to the recent data shared by my buddy, of Nintendo consoles dominating the entire market, followed by Playstation.

Xbox consoles, on the other hand, hardly sold anything at all. Do your best, Vert!

As for Neptune...well, Sega consoles actually didn't exist anymore after Dreamcast iirc (Uzume the last Sega-rai). At the very least, they're still making cool af games though.

On how Vert seem to know a bit about writing even if she's not an Author.

Just remember on how she was made a judge of a writing competition way back. She probably had done a fair share of reading and communicating with other Authors too.

Anyway, thanks for reading thus far. I will do my best and write more too!


End file.
